Siraj-ud-daulah acquired much notoriety both among the British and the Indians. He succeeded as the Nawab of Bengal in April 1756 at the age of 27. He resented British presence in Bengal, and managed to capture Calcutta from the British in June 1756. During this time, he is supposed to have put 146 British subjects in a 20 by 20 foot chamber, what is now known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. Only 23 survived in the overnight ordeal.
The next year, he lost Bengal to Robert Clive at the Battle of Plassey. He was killed at his capital, Murshidabad (now in West Bengal). He was betrayed by his uncle, Mir Jafar , as aspirant to the throne. The Battle of Plassey is regarded as the start of British rule in India.
"Siraj-ud-daula has been pictured", says the biographer of his vanquisher, Lord Clive, "as a monster of vice, cruelty and depravity." But though he may have suffered from the demoralizing effects of too much wealth and power at too early an age, he was in fact no more cruel than most eighteenth-century Eastern despots. His main fault was weakness, which caused him to be fickle and indecisive; he was also arrogant, of changeable temper, and lacking in courage.
